Santa Rosa to require more bike parking

October 5, 2011, 12:24AM

10/05/2011

Future bicycle commuters in Santa Rosa should enjoy more places to park their rides following changes made Tuesday to rules aimed at expanding and diversifying the bicycle parking spaces in the city.

The Santa Rosa City Council unanimously approved changes to the zoning code that will require many new businesses to provide a mixture of short-term and long-term bicycle parking, as well as showers and locker rooms for larger companies in larger buildings.

Previously, new businesses have been required to provide bike parking spaces equal to 5 to 10 percent of the spaces required for vehicles. But in places like downtown, where most businesses are exempt from providing parking because of the city's parking district, businesses were not required to provide any bike parking.

Now, they need to provide a mixture of short-term for visitors and long-term for employees.

The rules only apply to new or expanded buildings or more intense uses, and not to new businesses leasing existing buildings.